... also abandoned this version very early on, seemingly agreeing with the advice of someone still unknown...

Quote

'According to Christopher Tolkien, when his father had reached this point in the book he loaned the material to a friend to get an outside opinion on it. We do not know this person's identity, but apparently her response was something along the lines of 'this is wonderful, but it's not The Hobbit.' She must have been someone whose judgement Tolkien respected, for he abanoned the work and decided to let The Hobbit retain its own autonomy and voice rather than completely incorporate it into The Lord of the Rings as a lesser 'prelude' to the greater work.'The History of The Hobbit, the 1960 Hobbit, John Rateliff